Make YOUR difference in the world…Volunteer!

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One of the sweetest people I have ever met is Mary Stansell. Mary was a coworker who worked in a respite care program for elderly people with memory loss, from Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia. Mary did not just work her 8am to 5pm shift. She left her house at 6am to drive across town to pick up a few of the program participants whose loved one was having trouble getting to the program. On the weekends, she provided free respite care in her home for some families who were struggling. At the end of the day, if a family caregiver was late leaving work, she would wait, on her own time, until they arrived and not charge the late fee. And she never complained.

See, Mary is a tough cookie. She left her southern home on a Greyhound bus. With the clothes she could fit in her suitcase, along with her gun, and her four young children. She escaped violence and fear for hope and peace in California. Along the way, she met and married the love of her life, Charles. He was an intelligent, educated man, who she loved with all of her heart. They enjoyed dancing, laughing, loving, and living life together. Then one day, Charles was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the slow, declining abilities and memory loss would follow.

But it was not Mary’s way to grieve over it. And, in the plan for her husband’s care as time and the disease progresses, she was determined to be his primary caregiver. She would do whatever she had to do to care for him. So, she found work in a respite care program where Charles could attend. She was able to keep him close while she was at work.

She learned everything she could about the disease, and used her knowledge to help other families dealing with memory loss of a loved one. She consoled the wife whose husband no longer recognized her face. The son who feared his father had forgotten a wife and mother who had passed. The daughter whose mother forgot more each day. The caregivers who arduously provide care to a loved one in addition to working a full-time job. Mary did these things outside of her work. On her own time. She lived the disease. She loved those who fell victim to it, and she fought in the trenches alongside those who knew her pain.

Grief from trauma, whether it is after the passing of a loved one from a terminal illness, abuse, neglect, or other experience, a great healer is volunteering to help those who are where you have been. Some of the best and most effective volunteers are those who can empathize with people in the trenches today. You know their fear, their hopes, their sadness, and most importantly their needs.

We all have experienced trauma…loss of a loved one to terminal illness, aging, or accident. Some have experienced bad childhoods, disabilities, academic struggles, and more. Find an organization that serves a need for those today where you have been before.

IF ONE MORE IGNORANT PERSON tells me that they have a cure for Type1 Diabetes, I am really going to scream!!! While shopping, I was discussing health and wellness with a holistic healer.For whatever reason, when I mentioned my brother engages in a wellness regimen to manage his illness, she told me that there was a cure!When I said, “he is TYPE1 – Insulin Dependent, NOT Type2,” she assured me I was wrong and that he really does not need insulin but diet and exercise.AS IF I do not know what I am talking about, having personally dealt with the disease for 10 years.

In an earlier post, When a Cause Hits Home – Volunteering with a Personal Purpose, I described my brother’s struggle with Type1 Diabetes. An autoimmune disease, his life DEPENDS on daily doses of insulin and blood sugar measurements through finger sticks. His pancreas DOES NOT function. He did not acquire diabetes through diet or any behavior of his own. Doctors, meaning Endocrinologists, believe that an environmental trigger stopped his pancreas from working, and he was genetically predisposed to Type1. He has never been obese or overweight, in fact, at 6’0, he struggles to maintain a weight over 140 lbs. Anyone who would suggest he STOP using insulin very ignorant about the disease.

Sadly, this is not the first person to tell me that my Type1 brother does not need insulin to survive. Maybe these people would like to see what happened when he had a bad batch of insulin. He ended up in ICU for 5 days and nearly died.

My rant has a point. Advocacy and education about YOUR cause is vital to the public receiving information about the issue at hand. Potential donors, volunteers, and supporters MUST know the FACTS and MYTHS about issues, such as Type1. Otherwise, they will not understand the urgency families are experiencing as everyday 80 more people are diagnosed with this life threatening disease. Everything on the outside seems fine, but inside the lives of these families there is struggle, fear, depression, anxiety, and a glimmer of hope…that one day…their loved one will be cured.

JDRF, the leading organization fighting for a cure for Type1 has done a great job in encouraging families to share their personal experiences with the disease on YouTube. In turn, these videos are shared on Twitter and other social media platforms. These experiences are personal, inspire others to action, and provide a face for the disease. You can make a difference through advocacy and education for your cause. Get involved today!

How are you advocating for YOUR cause? Please share. Make YOUR difference in the world…Volunteer!

When I started my first full-time job after college, I managed a neighborhood based volunteer program for a local government entity. The purpose of the program was to help neighbors organize in groups to offer assistance to elderly neighbors. Early on, this program required an ongoing time commitment by neighborhood volunteers.

Although I had experience recruiting and coordinating volunteers on political campaigns, the nature of the service was short-term. Not to mention, I was not an ongoing volunteer, because my sister and I enjoyed volunteering in a variety of one-time volunteer projects for multiple organizations. In spite of this, I did not understand the needs, interests, and time commitments of my potential volunteers. I was asking others to do what I was not committed to do myself. As a result, I probably lost the opportunity for several months to utilize available human capital in making a difference in our community.

When a colleague and I decided to launch a joint project between our programs, this changed everything. We launched the “Adopt-A-Senior” program in 2002, featuring one-time projects for at-risk teens to serve seniors. For the first project, we painted the home of a grandmother who was raising three young grandchildren alone. This was the first of many to follow.

As soon as my newsletter featuring the project was distributed, I received an influx of phone calls and emails from individuals and service groups interested in getting involved. So, I offered two types of volunteer opportunities, the ongoing effort and the one-time projects. By far, the one-time project was the most popular and successful. Thousands of volunteers each year participated in these events, and many returned for our seasonal projects or for events designed for a specific volunteer group. I lead one of the most successful, awarded, reported, and popular programs in the entire organization.

This one-time project idea was not welcome by all. I had one hell of a time trying to convince my supervisor of its merits. Although it was clear, by volunteer participation numbers, that the one-time project was in demand, I was criticized for the exposure of the one-time project and not the ongoing effort. This is a classic case in the industry to consider what you THINK is best rather than what IS best. People are extremely busy with work, family, and other commitments, so rewarding their desire to volunteer is important. Making it fun and rewarding is even better, it is a win-win.

Listening and responding to the needs and interests of volunteers and how THEIR time and skills fits into the need of your organization will maximize the use of human capital for your organization. Doing so will increase volunteer retention and recruitment. Your volunteer pool will expand and diversify. Service hours will increase. Even if your program DEPENDS on ongoing volunteers, find needs that can be fulfilled on a one-time basis. If you are a nonprofit, I guarantee you will find a need.

If you are seeking volunteer opportunities, join those organizations who are interested in YOUR volunteer objectives. There are many opportunities available with great organizations that will value your service and maximize your objectives.

What one-time projects are you participating in? Make YOUR difference in the world…Volunteer!

I am an avid runner. I love everything about participating in a race. I love the rigor and exhaustion of training, the crowd at the start line, the sense of accomplishment at the finish. I enjoy picking up my race packet and posting my bib in competition with my spouse, on the wall. At the end of a race, my physical and mental rewards are indescribable. There is nothing else in life I do that makes me feel more alive.

One of my favorite stories is that of Team Hoyt. This father and son duo, Dick and Rick, is a Boston Marathon legend having finished 31 Boston Marathon races. Rick, who has Cerebral Palsy, is quadriplegic, and cannot walk or talk on his own. However, his parents insisted on immersing Rick in activities for him to enjoy a life as normal as possible. When a group of engineers at Tufts University built a computer that Rick could use through a series of head taps to communicate, his first words were “Go Bruins,” in support of his hometown team competing for the Stanley Cup.

When Rick was 13, he told his dad that he wanted to participate in a five-mile run for a paralyzed Lacrosse player. So, Dick pushed Rick in his wheel chair and finished the race second to last. Rick typed a message to his father, “Dad, when I’m running, it feels like I am not handicapped.” Since then, Team Hoyt embarked on a racing journey to include over 1,000 distance races and triathlons. They have run across the country, participated in Iron Man competitions, and are the face of the Boston Marathon that is complete with a bronze statue of Team Hoyt.

Recreational activities are vital to the social, psychological, and developmental well-being of disabled children, teens, and adults. The benefits are immense, from developing self-confidence and language skills, to social interaction and trauma therapy. Everyday volunteers are helping developmentally disabled people participate in activities previously unheard of, to experience the exhilaration enjoyed by non-disabled people.

Martha, a previous member of my staff, was disabled due to polio. She had difficulty walking, and was aided by crutches. When, as a teenager, her family visited Yosemite National Park, she was told to stay home because she could not walk very far. So, when the Access Leisure Program in our department hosted a Yosemite hike for disabled adults, staff encouraged Martha to go. She went, she hiked, and she returned the next week beaming with confidence and a sense of accomplishment.

Organizations that provide recreational activities and therapy are typically non-profit and vigorously compete for funding. Services depend on the contributions of volunteers, who enable those with disabilities to break through barriers and enjoy the exhilaration of sports and recreation. Organizations such as Kids and Horses in Minden, NV and Access Leisure in Sacramento, CA are two of my favorites, but there are MANY more in need of help. Find what is available in your community and make a difference!

How are you volunteering to help people with disabilities? Make YOUR difference in the world…Volunteer!

Once in a lifetime someone makes a difference in your life. I do not mean my parents, or my husband, my childhood best friend, or even my child. Someone who takes an interest in your well-being for no reason except that they really give a crap about your future. That was my mentor, and “second mom,” Betty Seise.

When I was a teenager, I worked as Betty’s assistant for a company where she was the Controller. She guided and directed me through school, life decisions, and choosing a future. She supported me when I was right, told me the truth when I was wrong, and encouraged me to the light when it was dark. After her career advanced and I went on to college, Betty remained close by. She was always interested in what I was doing with my life. When I graduated from school, she told me, “The world is your oyster,” and I was inspired by that.

Betty was a champ. She had her shares of ups and downs, but she was a self-made woman, a mom, a daughter, a wife, a leader, and a self-proclaimed life-long student. She was charitable, helped others, and when you told her something you knew she was listening.

So, you can imagine my response when in the summer of 2008 I found out that she had cancer. Stage 4, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, to be exact. I began researching everything I could find on the disease, and found that 5 in 10 people go into remission post chemotherapy and radiation. I was 100% confident she would be okay. After all, Betty was a fighter. 51 years old, in impeccable shape, a healthy eater, and a holistic healer. She was educated and well-read, so if anyone had a chance for survival…it was her.

Over the next ten weeks, the updates on Betty’s health were up and down. Due to the cancer in her lymph nodes, large amounts of lymph fluid accumulated in her abdomen and under her arms. Doctors had to surgically extract 1.8 liters here, 1.5 liters there, and it was excruciatingly painful for her. She had to maintain iron levels in order to receive the chemotherapy treatments that were imperative to her survival. She spent days in the hospital, lost a great deal of weight, could not eat, could hardly sleep, and eventually could not talk. One day, her condition improved. We had hope! Then on a Monday night, I received the news that she was again hospitalized and was not expected to make it.

09.24.2008 is the day that Betty, my mentor, my second-mom, lost her battle to cancer. And I started the fight. 4 months and 1 day before I was married. Two years and one week before my daughter was born. One day before her son turned 22. One year before her oldest son earned his Master’s Degree. And my life, like many others, has never been the same.

Betty is not the only one. We all know somebody who has won, lost, or is still fighting the battle. There is something that we can do to help. All organizations that provide prevention to support for Cancer patients and their families need volunteers. In fact, many rely on volunteer support to serve those in need. Contact any hospital, cancer treatment center, hospice, American Cancer Society, or Leukemia and Lymphoma society and find out how you can help. Or, volunteer to be a bone marrow donor. ALL of these organizations need volunteers, so JOIN THE FIGHT!

How are you volunteering to fight cancer? Please share. Make YOUR difference in the world…Volunteer!

In effort to escape the triple degree heat this weekend, my family and I made a trip east from our Placer County, California home and spent a day at Lake Tahoe. My toddler, who cannot yet swim, was equipped in her pink and gray life jacket while my husband and I were right by her side. As we are in the midst of summer, there were dozens of boats out on the lake and many children passengers. More kids were swimming in the lake, including youngsters under 5 that could not yet swim. I was astonished to realize that my child was one of only a handful of children wearing a life vest.

To many, it may seem that I am overreacting. But having grown up near two major rivers and a big fat lake, I have seen the all-volunteer Sacramento DART (Drowning and Accident Rescue Team) vessels searching for drowning victims more times than I can possibly count. Just this spring, my husband and I were cycling around Lake Natoma, when we had to stop for a series of emergency vehicles crossing the bike path to a lake access area. We saw DART vehicles and immediately knew a swimmer was lost. A young adult, Lisa, was standing by until her 23 year old fiancée was found in the lake. Without a life jacket, he unknowingly attempted to swim across a cold, deep, section of the lake to an island. Due to the cold water shock, and physical exhaustion, he succumbed and was recovered several hours later in water 30 feet deep. Perhaps a life jacket could have saved his life.

Whether it is water safety, public safety, or any other issue affecting your community, get involved and make a difference. Volunteers support nonprofits and public agencies by providing public outreach that they lack the resources to provide. For example, DART utilizes volunteers to raise public awareness about water safety and education by making presentations to K-12 school students or attending large events with a large public audience. Volunteers with special skills to coordinate operations are also needed, including open water divers, accountants, grocery clerks, security guards, and many more.

YOU can make a difference by volunteering to provide an ounce of prevention in YOUR community, through an agency or organization that is central to a cause you are interested in. Choosing an issue you are passionate about is imperative to maximizing your experience, as shared in my earlier post, “Find YOUR Passion and Volunteer.”

How are you making a difference through public awareness? Make YOUR difference in the world…Volunteer!

There is an abundance of good work that takes place in our communities, and it might not be obvious or well-known. It is the work of volunteers through faith-based organizations of every denomination. The religious purpose of volunteering adheres to a higher purpose, and many in the faith-based community aspire to this principle. Faith-based organizations, such as the Salvation Army, are also typically organized in their service capacity, have a unique connection to or understanding of a certain need, enjoy access to a lot of human capital, and provide an excellent opportunity to serve those in need.

When I was a new volunteer coordinator for a public agency, I was discouraged from recruiting faith-based groups to my program. Having been a member of a church for my entire life, it seemed plausible because of the existing service component in the faith-based community. Besides, it seemed a little sketchy to me working on the public sector side of things. However, as my program expanded and earned media, volunteers from all over town joined the team. Faith-based groups from every population were interested in my volunteer program. I could not turn them down.

Max and Virgie Villavert

One of my favorite groups included a Filipino American Church. The two amazing service leaders were Max and Virgie Villavert. They were the most sincere, heart-felt, volunteers who really wanted to make a difference. Max and Virgie spent Friday nights hosting a teen program for neighborhood youth as an alternative for fun, and at some activities had around 100 kids in attendance. As volunteers for my program, they were constantly seeking out elderly neighbors in need and going the extra distance to help out. Max and Virgie did not expect anything in return except the opportunity to offer a helping hand.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with a variety of faith-based teams on one-time volunteer projects as well as ongoing endeavors. These groups provide a unique opportunity to volunteer, as members include all backgrounds. Some of these groups have the ability to reach individuals in their communities that will not respond to offers of assistance from outsiders. Others have a sheer volume of human capital through their numbers. They certainly make the difference.

If you are a member of a faith-based organization, or if you live near a faith-based organization, contact leaders and find out what work they are doing in the community. Faith-based organizations in my community do anything from operate a food closet and homeless shelter for women and children, to collecting in-kind donations of needed materials for a cancer center and provide free employment services. Through my church, my family contributes monthly donations to three local nonprofit organizations, and we have worked with youth in building life skills and personal development among other things. At the end of the day it does not matter what you believe, but what you do to help others that counts.

What is your experience with faith-based volunteering? Please share. Make YOUR difference in the world…Volunteer!

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Hello! Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog!
For more information about me, please visit my "About Me" page, but here is the short version:
I have over 12 years experience in volunteer leadership and community outreach, and am a lifelong volunteer.
At present, I am an MBA candidate at the University of Nevada, Reno, and I hold a B.A. in Government from California State University, Sacramento.
My spare time activities include cycling, mountain biking, hiking, running, swimming, traveling, playing the piano, competing in triathlons, and volunteering.
I hail from Northern California, where I live with two of my favorite people on the planet, my husband and daughter.
Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope that you will share your experiences in volunteering with me!